In English, our Narrative 2 unit consisted of writing our own Lyrical Essay. This type of essay is unlike any other I’d written before because it combined elements of an essay and poetry together. This assignment was also unique in that we were given a lot of freedom on what we wanted our writing topic to be & the format we presented it in. I chose to write about my experience with my ADD.
For a while, this essay proved to be extremely difficult for me. The free-flowing structure of a typical Lyrical Essay was hard to figure out. I know from experience that I function best with hard structure, but am very bad at making my own structure. I had tried writing about several different topics with no success, so I ended up scrapping it all to start over with a very meta essay reflecting on my experience writing this essay and other essays in the past.
Intention Statement
“Distraction” is a lyrical essay about my struggles with writing that comes with my ADD. While writing for this current assignment as well as numerous others in the past, I had fallen victim to analysis paralysis, where my own overthinking of a situation stops me from getting anything done. I chose to write this lyrical essay in both first-person and third-person perspective to separate which parts are happening in the present or a flashback. The majority of the essay is written in first person because this topic is specific to me and my current experiences, and while the 8 year old girl is still me we are not the same person.
In the first section, I used my word choices carefully to set a very relaxed tone with no immediate urgency or panic. I wanted to structure the first part very loosely to parallel the daydreaming period of writing where you aren’t even thinking about the due date. Once I realize the due date is just around the corner, my thoughts are less flowy and my sentences are more sharp. There is less time spent on imagery because I am rushed and panicked. In the last section of my essay, I have calmed down, and the amount of detail and poetic wording is somewhere in between the amount that I used in the beginning and the middle. I ended up including multiple pieces of art by Dr Seuss as a reference to what had actually happened back when I was in 3rd grade. I was assigned to write a letter to Dr Seuss, but even after dinner the night before it was due I had only had less than half of it done ( and very poorly written). I suddenly had the idea to restart it all and write the essay in rhymes like Dr Seuss would write in. When I had finished it, my teacher, parents, and classmates had all loved it and I had considered it as the best thing I had ever written as of that point.
During my peer reviews, my readers enjoyed most of my ideas and writing, but were confused on what was happening on the last page. I took their feedback and edited out the story of what I did when I was 8 to make the ending sound less rushed and confusing. I am much more happy with how this version came out because it sounds much more cohesive.